


Puppet Master

by Blue_Hood



Category: Captain America (Movies), Jessica Jones (TV), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Defenders (Marvel TV), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Abusive Parents, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amnesia, Artificial Intelligence, Avengers Tower, Brotherhood of Mutants, Canon Jewish Character, Child Soldiers, College, Crossover, Eventual Happy Ending, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Government Agencies, Government Conspiracy, Hydra (Marvel), Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Jewish Erik Lehnsherr, Jewish Kitty Pryde, Major Original Character(s), Mutant Politics, Mutant Powers, Mutant Rights, Mutants, Not Captain America: The Winter Soldier Compliant, Partial Mind Control, Past Child Abuse, Past Relationship(s), Politics, Project Insight (Marvel), Recovery, Redemption, Retirement, Self-Sacrifice, Xavier Institute
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:07:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 20,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23210707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Hood/pseuds/Blue_Hood
Summary: Pyro's life was forever changed when he became the object of a mind controller's affection
Relationships: Bobby Drake/Rogue, Jean Grey/Scott Summers, John Allerdyce & Aaron Kile, John Allerdyce/Kitty Pryde, Luke Cage/Jessica Jones
Kudos: 3





	1. Pyro's Escape

Sitting at a student desk, Pyro closed his eyes. As the memories came to him, his hand scribbled out the story. The way they met should’ve been a huge red flag to Magneto, the kid- Aaron- demonstrated his power by walking up to him and making him roll up his sleeve to reveal the numbers inked in his skin by Nazis. He constantly had to use his powers, whether that meant making people give him things or making them do things, ranging from smiles to sleep. Maybe that kind of hypocrisy is just normal in mind controllers because Aaron also ~~insisted~~ complained about how he couldn’t say things like go jump off a bridge without people seeking bridges to jump off of.

Pyro recalled trying to warn them, pointing out that Aaron was always using his powers and probably used them on Magneto and Mystique, they laughed off his concerns, saying the boy was just enjoying the same freedom that he himself enjoyed. Pyro found himself slipping from command. Things went sour when Aaron pitted them against agents, for the first time the strength of his mutation was clear. When he shouted “Stop, don’t move except to breathe and blink,” everyone froze, including his father at the edge of the crowd. Aaron made the crowd part for him as he stalked towards the man.

A dark haired woman got in the way, “I won’t let you kill him.”

The mind controller smirked and made everyone put their guns to their head, he asked “Didn’t dad do this to you before, mom?” Apparently the dead mother he was whining about wasn’t really his mom, who knew if any of that story was true. “Safeties off, triggers ready.” The woman hopped out of the way and the boy ordered “Sleep, dad. Drop your guns.” Magneto made restraints out of the falling weapons, carrying the boy’s old man. He walked up to an agent “Magneto’s with me, Agent Hawthorne. Do you understand?”

“Got it, Aaron.”

Aaron explained away the connection by saying they liked how he could make people tell the truth and assuring M that he was careful not to make people say whatever they wanted to hear. Using his father as a lackey, he made anti-mutant bigots confess their crimes at a live press conference held by Warren Worthington Junior, Kilgrave joining in the penance party.

Everything came to a head some weeks after the near mass suicide, when his machine was complete. He had gone around testing people by making them answer certain questions honestly, Pyro passed the tests, finding himself in the kid’s inner circle. The machine used Sabretooth and his father to boost his powers of suggestion and healing. The design seemed similar to the machine Magneto designed to mutate humans to Pyro’s untrained eye. After speaking to Jean and talking her out of mental barriers ~~the P~~ Charles put up to block her full power, Aaron had the machine made to negate some mutants’ ability to use their powers.

His wariness towards Aaron having never left him, Pyro was able to escape the mind control by telling him what he wanted to hear and using lines Magneto used with conviction. Once he no longer needed Magneto or Mystique, he sent them to the X-Men, showing his hand in the process after disabling Mystique’s power so she couldn’t trick people into helping. Pyro played his part when they returned with the X-Men after the machine went live, they were smart enough to try to cover their noses and mouths but the machine didn’t boost just Aaron’s power of suggestion, it also negated the powers of mutants who might be a threat. Toad hardly fared better than Sabretooth but Aaron needed him to operate the controls so he kept the man stuck at his station. “What do you want to do with them, boss?”

Aaron said “Burn them for me.”

Pyro lit his flamethrowers, made a huge wall, wrapped himself in the flames and turned on the kid. Before they froze him out, Magneto and Mystique mentioned the suggestive power worked through pheromones. His habit of playing with flames enabled him to cleanse the air he breathed when he was around Aaron. The boy was absolutely indignant about his betrayal, the flames caused Toad to turn off the machine. Edging closer, Pyro kept the fire around him, blocking the mutants behind him from getting too close and preventing any weapons Aaron’s followers may have installed from locking on him. He was close enough when Aaron cried “Turn the power around.”

Throwing his fire back, he faked a fall and cut his power, yelling at Toad “Turn it on!” Aaron didn’t realize he’d forgotten to address the command until the machine’s reversed power drained him. “Off!”

Toad cut the power as Pyro stood up and hustled to the baffled boy, who went from staring in silent shock to glaring at the mutant teen “Stop!”

“Nice try.” Pyro came to a stop in front of him.

“What?”

“Binary switch.”

“What?”

With a sigh, Pyro said “The machine channels two different powers through one person. Your exact words were ‘turn the power around’. Toad was still awaiting orders so he did. When I told him to turn it on, you didn’t counter my order.” He pulled the boy to his feet and told Toad “Open ‘em up before Creed suffocates.”

“No!” Aaron stared at the coffin-like chamber his father was in, “You just boosted his power.”

Pyro was already dragging him that way when he spoke, throwing the boy at the box “After you killed him.”

“No, no, no. How?”

“It’s simple,” Pyro sighed again, “When you designed the machine, you forgot about air. On top of that, you weren’t using your own power when the machine was on, you drained him and choked him at the same time.”

“You could’ve said something-”

“If I did, you’d ignore me and either cause my death like you did with the guy who designed this machine or you’d make me a living puppet like your dad does to the women he takes a liking to.” Aaron jumped to his feet and tried to punch Pyro, who grabbed his neck. “Hand down or I start squeezing.” Being dragged by his neck was worse than being pulled to his feet and thrown on the floor. Pyro banged his head against the metal wall a few times before dropping his unconscious body. He turned to Mystique “I tried to warn you about him. Instead of listening, you gave him my place.” Glancing at the X-Men, he said “You’re all the same.” He sneered at Magneto, “God among insects, indeed.”

Iceman ran up to him as he moved to leave “At least let us treat your arms, that’ll make blending in kinda hard.”

Looking at his wrist, Pyro realized his flamethrowers had begun to burn into his skin. “Fine.” He told Jean “If anyone tries to read my mind, I will burn both of you alive, understood?”

“Yes,” the fear convinced him.

They put him in a guest room after explaining why he had to stay for the duration of his recovery. Secretary McCoy came by as Pyro finished writing the story “Here, full statement on the Kile Incident.”

“Is that what we’re calling it?”

Pyro shrugged “How A Preteen Sociopath Almost Took Over The World seemed too wordy.” He left the room, better to avoid the manipulation known as political maneuvering. Sitting in his room, Pyro put a psychic inhibitor on before taking a nap. His old friends wanted to catch up but they made their choices and they often asked where he’d be going when he left, he couldn’t trust a certain psychic not to spy on his conversations through them.

The President had to make an announcement about the Kile Incident, which kept getting pushed back, before he could issue the pardon. Pyro figured they were trying not to admit a mutant saved them all. His wrists were healed by the time they got around to it so he was invited to DC to receive his pardon on national TV. Since he was already outside New York, he skipped his stop in Mutant Town and just began living the drifter lifestyle.

Mutant exploitation was so common in both the public and private sector that he could get legit jobs from employers who flaunted the labor laws. He was working in a factory, helping the relevant agency make a case that didn’t depend on his hearsay. He came home to the RV he won in a card game to find a man in a suit. Ignoring the man, he took a shower and changed into clean clothes to get any contagens off, bagging the clothes for forensic testing. When the man was still there afterwards, he asked “Who are you?”

“My name is Agent-”

“Your parents named you Agent? I know I have room to talk, Saint is such a stupid name but seriously?”

“Sorry, I’m Agent Hawkins.”

“Badge.” The suit just smiled “Legacy Control, Weapon X or SHIELD?” That wiped the smile off his face. “Y’know what? I don’t care.” He punched the man’s lights out and made a call before making a video of him standing over the suit “Agent Hawkins here broke into my home. Why? Because I’m Pyro and apparently that makes it okay. If that’s how they want to play it then I’m gonna call ‘em out on a few things, starting with Agent’s agency.” The video was a live stream and he contacted a news agency before he began. When he was done, he said “I’ll be sure to drop Agent off at my local police station, no need to send in a strike team.”

A year later, Hank came to him at work and handed him a file, using his status as a member of cabinet to get Pyro pulled without costing the younger man money. His agents also investigated the facility, documenting all the labor law violations. “Agent Hawkins was supposed to recruit you to find him but you publicly embarrassed his department.”

“He tried to jump me in my own home.” Pyro read the file, “So he’s stronger than he was before?”

“Seems his abilities returned in force the same way most mutant gifts develop.”

“Puberty?”

“Yes.”

“What did you do about Jones?”

“His mother?”

“She was immune to his father’s power. If I was him then I’d test the power boost against her immunity.”

“She won’t talk to us.”

“She lawyer up?”

“Yes, Matthew Murdock, he was one of the partners on the Punisher case.”

“I’ll have to give him a call, see if he can write up a deal for you guys to sign. In the meantime, I have work. I’m not gonna stop until I have concrete confirmation that this isn’t a trick. Hawkins refused to show me his badge, I had reason to believe he was a threat, especially since he called himself Hawthorne when Kile talked to him when M picked up Killgrave.”

“You-”

“I’m what you would call retired. I’ll help but only on contract, now if you’ll excuse me.”

Hank refused to take the file back “My agents have-”

“Found so many OSHA violations that this place should’ve been shut down over a year ago?”

“Yes, you know-”

“They employ mostly mutants, Mister Secretary, don’t tell me you’re so bad at your job that you don’t know how common this shit is. I work with the authorities to shut these hellholes down but they always drag their feet until I find a human coworker suffering the same fate. The life of a human ex-con is worth more than the lives of twenty honest mutants. Now, I hope I don’t get fired for your agents’ snooping.” He shoved the file into Hank’s hands and stormed out.

A month later, pro-mutant businesses filled a lot of the slots his previous employers had. He drove his RV to New York, crashing in abandoned parking lots along the way. His first stop in the city was Alias Investigations, “Kile still out?”

“He’s been out for over a year, though I don’t blame you for putting that prick Hawkins in his place.”

“Remember that Agent Hawthorne that Kile spoke to when he took Killgrave?”

“Yeah. I know it’s the same guy.”

“Then I guess you don’t need these.” He held out the files Hank had given him to get him on the case, “Hawthorne/Hawkins’ personnel file and Kile’s LC file, as well as his prison records.”

“You’re efficient.”

“Pretty sure I’m the target of his vendetta, which is fine with me.”

“What?”

“I’ve always been willing to make the sacrifice play so-to-speak. If I could go back and turn my powers on myself when I got them to save my mom then I would. I’m pretty sure losing me would be the kick she needed to get away from my father and if she moved fast enough then he’d be in prison now.”

“Wow, that’s bleak.”

“Welcome to the world of mutants, ya freak,” the words were said in a joking tone but his expression betrayed him.

“What does that have to-” Jess said “No, that’s a bad idea, that’s the definition of a bad idea.”

“I’ve literally seen Kile rise from the dead.”

“Shit.”

“I have an idea but I need your word that you’ll let me make the sacrifice play.”

“What’s your plan?”

“Your word.”

“Fine, I’ll let you sacrifice yourself. Now what’s your idea?”

“I think I may know where Kile is holed up but we’ll need to make a stop first to publicly expose LC.”

“Why?”

“By exposing LC, we ensure they can’t make more monsters out of innocent kids. By doing it publicly, we buy ourselves some leeway with Kile.”

“Alright.”

“My bike’s parked in the alley, please tell me it’s not trash day.”

Checking her phone, Jess said “It’s not. Why’d you park it in the alley?”

“Cheaper, plus it’s less likely to get stolen if it’s hidden among trash. Trust me, I use the same trick all the time.” Parking outside a derelict industrial building, Pyro asked “Can your phone live stream?”

“Yeah.”

“What kind is it? I got a couple clips for makeshift body cams.”

“Good idea.”

Unlocking her phone, she handed it over. He set up the stream and secured the clip on backwards “Hook it on the top of your jacket, it’ll pull your shirt down and body cams are supposed to go on the chest for a reason.” He secured his own the same way and they went in. “Everything in here is a cell.” Pointing to the machine in the middle of the area, he said “Legacy Control made that to contain a kid they turned into a living nuke. Last time I was here, the kids were running the place but it looks like the government took it back. I’m surprised, I thought the kids were paranoid enough to protect themselves and wipe out a small town doing it. Let’s check the cells, see if they’re empty or if we need to call the morgue.” They went through, looking into the doors that ringed the machine and showing their viewers the dead bodies within. Clearly the children had starved to death, they looked more like Holocaust survivors than modern Americans. When one seemed to twitch, Pyro called “I got a live one, help me get him out.”

Jess jumped from her side of the third level to his and tore the door off its hinges then they both went in to help the dark haired boy no older than 10 out. “He looks like a miniature Loki.”

“Maybe his son, he could’ve been conceived before the Battle of New York.”

“True.” Jess maneuvered around the boy “Give here, I can jump down with him.” She sat on the railing, took the boy in a fireman’s carry and dropped.

“Open up all the cells, I’m gonna get help.” With how close the kids were to being mutants, he decided to call Dr. Grey instead of 9-1-1. Law enforcement wasn’t really on mutants’ side, he said as much to explain himself to Jean.

When they were done, the children were being tended to by other Enhanced who would be naturally biased towards them. Several were already DOS (Dead On the Scene), authorities would be involved once they got the survivors out. “Where to next?”

“If I had to guess, Kile went back to his machine. It’s the best place to lure me to.”

“You sure about this sacrifice plan?”

“You don’t have room to talk, you did the same thing with Killgrave.”

“Fair enough.”


	2. Like Father, Like Son

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s something about writing a child. As much as I want to, I seemingly can’t bring myself to make him truly evil, only troubled

When their ride took them through some woods, Jess asked “Where the hell are we going?”

“The machine was built inside Magneto’s base at the time which is impossible to find unless you know where you’re going.” Later, as they walked through the base, Pyro seemed to stiffen but he still took the chance to explain, “Despite popular opinion, Aaron wasn’t trying to take over the world. You have to remember he was tortured by Legacy Control. He sought out Magneto for protection then realized he could make it stop. I think the machine was just gonna turn the tables on Legacy Control and everyone like them, given the confessions.”

“Yeah?” Jess asked “What about now? You think he’s to you what Killgrave was to me.”

“Other way around, I’m to him what you were to Killgrave.”

“I don’t see a difference.”

“His powers came back when he hit puberty, Jessica. Killgrave was a selfish little twit but he was also a grown man, Kile still has time to grow up and I think having powers is no excuse to expect kids not to go through phases. I went through a pyromaniac phase after I got my powers, wound up saving my life because I held the fire so close to my face that I was breathing in the flames not the pheromones.”

“The world won’t accept that.”

“I know, I’m hoping he is just a hurt, angry kid at the center of all this real life chess. If he is then he’s capable of growing a conscience. You should’ve seen him when I threw him in front of his father’s dead body. He went through at least two stages of grief, I doubt he was aware of the design flaw that caused Killgrave to suffocate.”

“You think he just wanted his father depowered?”

“Kid’s the result of rape and he knows it, I don’t think we’re dealing with Killgrave the sequel here.” Pyro pointed to the door “The machine’s right through here, I think Magneto’s grandiose nature influenced how he built it.”

Inside, Jess saw the infamous mind control machine that Kile allegedly used to try to take over the world. “Why wasn’t the machine dismantled?” The floor inclined like a hill so the man inside the machine stood above everyone else. Standing around the room were a bunch of random people with Aaron Kile himself in the center.

“They couldn’t find it. The X-Men took Aaron and me back to base, they bargained with Mutant Affairs to get me a deal. I’m not really surprised Magneto moved on anyway.” He walked around, head tilted down to look at the boxes set into the floor “Really?” He looked up at Aaron, “I thought you didn’t like killing people this way.”

“They’re not sealed.”

Pyro looked between him and Jessica, “I assume you’ve been watching.”

“Yes. You plan to trade yourself for all the innocents I’ve taken, you think you can save me.”

“Not save you, psychopaths can’t be saved. I’m not a psychologist so I don’t know if you’re a psycho- or socio-path but you’re fucked up in the head for sure.”

“Is that anyway to treat someone you want to deal with-”

“I don’t want to but I will.” That made Aaron stop short of ordering the person at the controls to seal the doors. Pyro walked up to him and got down on his knees, “Let them all go, please.” Aaron removed the phone and threw it at Jessica, who caught it instinctively. “You can go.” He ordered the person at the controls “Open the boxes. Everyone who isn’t the mutant known as Pyro out.” He put a hand in the mutant’s hair, his captive’s head was down and he didn’t dare move a muscle. Aaron issued one last order, looking at Jess “Take Jessica Jones to the hangar and fly away, she’ll tell you where to land.” Once they were alone, Aaron tested his control “Take your shirt off.” Without his fire to protect him, Pyro was compelled to obey. “No flamethrowers? I’m surprised.” Given recent experience, Kile was fairly sure his pet wouldn’t speak unless directly spoken to. That reminded him, “What are you to me?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Not sure? What does that mean?”

“You’re in control, I am whatever you say I am.”

His monotone voice sold it. “Hold onto your shirt, stand up and follow me.” He took the man to his room and held out a dark blue collar. “Put this on then your shirt.” He gave Pyro a leather jacket, “This too then we’ll leave. You don’t like this place, do you?”

“No, I don’t.” The jacket covered the collar enough that they wouldn’t be stopped.

“Take me to your bike.” Climbing on the bike, he said “You still have to take me home.” Pyro swallowed thickly before he was forced to climb on. “Wait. What is it? You’re holding something back.”

“If we go to my place then we’ll be walking into a trap, the video was live-streamed.”

“Good point. Let’s get out of the state then, Pennsylvania please. Try to avoid the toll booths and checkpoints.” Pyro nodded mutely. They spent the night in Philly, the older mutant kneeling on the floor in a submissive pose beside the bed Aaron sprawled out on.

The next morning, Pyro stiffened when Aaron ran his fingers along the nylon collar. He ducked his head when the chessmaster looked at him with raised eyebrows. The thing about self-sacrifice was, even though his captor used mind control on him, he still chose this. Kile patted his head “You can relax your arms.” They fell from their fold behind his back. “Time for breakfast.” He’d been forced to strip off his shirt again, making the collar more prominent. He caught Kile's eye and the boy sighed “What is it?”

“Your power wears off, please keep that in mind.”

“Telling people to forget usually lasts, according to my father, until a counter order is given.” The weight of his decision held his tongue better than any order Kile could give him. “Thank you for the concern, pet.” Did that make Kile his master or his owner? Pyro wasn’t sure and he also wasn’t sure if that counted as speaking directly to him. “Come.” He walked over to the table in their suite, Aaron ordered room services for them. “Sit in that chair.” He used to think Aaron liked letting him have some autonomy, he believed it was a game to the younger boy but if that was true then he burned that bridge with his stunt, burning the rest of his bridges soon after.

Only one person cared to bother with him anymore. He’d been working his first job after his pardon when Kitty called him up, pleasantly surprised he kept his phone and number. She was the reason he had a phone with live stream capability, flip phones with call and text would be much cheaper but he liked video chatting with Kitty. He hoped Aaron didn’t torture him by making him divulge such information, personal connections were weaknesses with his kind. His blank staring was easily mistaken for awaiting orders instead of the daydreaming it really was. Aaron stopped next to Pyro, who turned to face him with his head tipped down. “Look at me.” Here it comes. “Take your hands out of your lap and move your chair back.” He was not expecting Aaron to sit in his lap. “Kiss me like you mean it.” Oh, he did that so he didn’t have to bend over.

Pyro pulled him close and kissed him, Aaron took cues from the older mutant who was not as experienced as most people his age. Kile didn’t seem to mind, maybe he was playing with his power and new urges. One would think he’d start with a girl, but maybe what Pyro had mistaken in the boy was a budding crush. Shit, his persuasive power made pining much more dangerous. He pulled back and Pyro’s eyes held something akin to amusement or sentiment. Aaron knew what a violation adding ‘like you mean it’ to an order was.

The food came and he dismissed the waitstaff as he brought it in, the door didn’t give a clear line of sight to the table so he didn’t have to test his father’s claim. The most painful part of being mind controlled was the awareness, Pyro could think but it didn’t save him at all. Aaron’s will was his command, he learned to sleep kneeling with his hands folded behind his back. The first time he slept through the night like that, Aaron asked “What are you doing?” to Pyro’s sleeping form. “Answer me.”

“What, Master?” The address slipped out but he decided a moment later it was accurate.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m doing what you told me to.”

“You were sleeping. Why?”

“What- I do not understand the question.” Pyro remembered hearing Killgrave controlled when his victims slept and pissed. While Kile needed little prompting to grant permission to use the bathroom, he had yet to give permission to sleep.

His fear must have been clear in his expression because Kile said “You can lay down to sleep, right there on the nice carpet.”

“Thank you,” he was never sure when he was allowed to talk, Kile never explicitly forbade him to but the collar around his neck was a clear indicator of his position.

“If you need to catch up on sleep, do it. It’s your choice.” Was he mocking his victim? Nothing was Pyro’s choice, still sleep sounded nice. He knew the temperamental teen could change his mind at a moment’s notice, best take every advantage.

“Thank you, sir.” He laid down, his arms slipping from their place on his back. He thought he was made to kneel so Aaron would have easy access to his hair for petting. At least he wasn’t being raped on a regular basis, Killgrave loved doing that to his victims.

Apparently seeing him sleeping on the floor was fascinating because he woke to Aaron watching him with snacks in hand, “I probably should have paid more attention to my father when he was explaining things.” He rolled over, “Everyone’s always been afraid of me. Magneto was afraid but he thought he could use me, like LC.” Pyro had yet to get up “Why are you still laying on the floor?”

“You need to counter the orders, sir.”

“You can sit on the bed with me.” He never let Pyro on the furniture except to eat sometimes, his prisoner jumped at the opportunity. While he had long since stopped thinking of himself as John, having chosen his mutant name before he arrived at the mansion, Aaron is the first person to insist on using Pyro constantly. Then things got worse, “Who do you love most?”

“Kitty.”

“Who?”

“My girlfriend.” He was terrified that this would upset Aaron but he could not lie under compulsion.

“Who do you hate most?”

“I don’t know.”

“What? Are you trying to tell me you don’t hate anyone?”

“No. Hate is exhausting, I’m not sure who I hate most because I don’t actively hate people.”

“Who’s on the list?”

“The X-Men and Magneto both betrayed me.”

“Do you hate me?”

“No. You have always been honest about who and what you are.”

“Do you fear me?” That wasn’t as simple as yes or no. “Answer me.”

“Killgrave did this to Jessica to torment her, I’m afraid of where this is going not you.”

“I see.” Aaron hated parallels to his parents but he knew compulsion forced truth. He knew he would never be forgiven, never able to move on from what he was trying to do but maybe, “What is a hero?”

“I don’t know, I don’t believe in heroes.”

“Why not?”

“Heroes are hypocrites, just like everyone else.”

“Yourself included?”

“Yeah.”

“How am I a hypocrite?”

“Weren’t you the one who ranted about how your actions make you better than Killgrave?”

“Fair enough.” Aaron asked “What should heroes be?”

“Honest and fair, they should care about everyone equally. I guess that’s too much to ask, the Avengers accept collateral damage and the X-Men, well, you were there when they showed their true colors.”

“What makes a villain?”

“Not sure, the difference between criminal and villain isn’t really clear.”

“Do you believe me when I say I won’t hurt you?”

“You killed your own father, not that I haven’t been tempted myself but once you do that, how can you be trusted not to hurt someone?”

“How can you?”

“Never said I could be.”

“Do you consider yourself honest?”

“I wanted you to let at least a dozen people go and I still called you crazy.”

“Right.”

“What is your plan here?”

Aaron’s eyes sharpened and Pyro felt like he’d been slapped, only worse because Kile’s rants had served to instill a fear for what he and his father could do. Xavier genuinely didn’t like the mind control aspect of telepathy, for the most part but that’s all Killgrave and Kile had. “Who’s to say I have a plan?” Kile looked away, “My father got that much right, plans fall apart. Did you know Jessica watched him get hit by a bus? He came back because he thought her immunity might make things more fun. Y’know what she did?”

“Snapped his neck.” Aaron looked at him, “You told me this story before.”

“I did, didn’t I?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I finally understand my father’s whole can’t have friends thing, we really can’t.”

“Sir?”

“Yes?”

“Did you think we were friends?”

“Well, yes, I thought we were.”

“Why didn’t you take care of your original friends?”

“I was in a specially designed cell that filtered the air so none of my pheromones got out.”

Pyro did the math and came to the conclusion that could’ve been true “What were you trying to do with the machine?”

“Why do you care?”

“Because I didn’t realize the others might’ve been wrong until after I got my pardon.”

“You were right, I wanted them all to stop.” Aaron’s next command was “Hug me.” Even without the compulsion, Pyro was pretty sure he would have done it. He held Aaron close to his chest and listened to him vent, as he had once in the Brotherhood before he became convinced the boy was a monster. Aaron calmed down and ran a finger around the edge of the collar, causing Pyro to shiver. He wondered briefly if Kile understood the symbolism of what he was doing, how it was a subtle reminder of the power dynamic. Aaron quickly rolled off the bed and said “Bathroom’s all yours. I’m gonna order breakfast.” Pyro took the subtle order for what it was.


	3. Chess

After breakfast, he was ordered into his shirt and jacket, driving them out of the state. They kept going down the interstate until Aaron randomly began giving directions that led them to another city. Outside an apartment building, he said “Stop. Park somewhere we won’t get towed and follow me.” His bike was common enough that they didn’t have to worry about it being tracked. A man was leaving the building “Hold the door.” The man waited until Pyro caught up “Let go.” They went to the office, “Show me a furnished two bedroom with one young female tenant.”

The manager obeyed without question and after looking around, Aaron decided he liked the place “As far as you know we aren’t here, the girl may have guests but that’s none of your business. Now get back to work.”

Pyro was made to kneel in the guestroom, having checked for his master to make sure the room wasn’t lived in. When the girl got home, Aaron said “You are happy I’m here, you invited me. Now please quietly close the door and tell me your name.”

Names were damning for people like him, they could only direct their power to a person using their name. “Erin.”

“Hi Erin, I’m Aaron.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Pyro settled, he had no idea why Aaron specified a young woman but rape did not seem imminent. That night, he was snapped to awareness by laughter. Erin seemed to be drunk and Aaron’s plan became clear. He did not have to test his father’s claims about amnesia if he could make his victim drink the memories away. The door to the guest room opened and before he could reconsider, he said “No, Master.”

“He’s so cute,” cooed Erin.

Aaron introduced “Pyro, meet the daughter of the Enchantress.” When Pyro chanced a glance up, his master said “You can ask.”

“Your power works on aliens?”

Erin and Aaron shared a look, “How did you know my mother was an alien?”

“Answer her.”

“Luke.”

“What?”

“When you introduced me to the LC kids, Luke told me about the Enchantress.”

Erin ran a hand over the edge of the collar on the back of his neck, eliciting a shiver. “You were Magneto’s lieutenant?”

“Yes, ma’am.” She seemed to be close to his master.

“He’ll do.”

Aaron told him “Sleep.”

In the other room, Erin asked Aaron “Did you rip off my name?”

“We both know Erin is just your current name, Andy.”

“Yes, well most of our associates don’t know what Andy is short for.”

“Those that do think it’s just a villainess being cruel.”

“True.” She shifted into her masculine form “This form always feels more natural, it’s easier to hold when I need to control the shift.”

“But Erin is safer.”

“Unfortunately. What’s the plan, boss?”

“Our New York base is gone.”

“I saw.”

“Even I couldn’t ID all the bodies they showed.”

“We didn’t see them all?”

“I doubt it, they said every cell was occupied.”

“True. What do you want to do?”

“We know Luke is down but if you’re free then Lola probably is. We need to check on the Kravens.”

“What about our scientists?”

“The Kravens are trackers.” Aaron admitted “I highly doubt the sisters and Scourge are the first to use Midgard as a hiding place. We need Lola or Scotty to help focus your power.”

“Right.”

“If I could just compel someone to fill their role and speed things up then I would.”

“I know but we made lives, Aaron.”

“Some of us don’t have the luxury.”

“Were you trying to shut them down?”

“On a global scale. Even my father knew our power wasn’t designed for world domination.”

“And he was a hedonistic bastard. I’m sorry for your loss, he was a valuable resource.”

“That I believe. I’ve heard every slander imaginable for my patricide and a few false condolences from those aware enough to realize I did not mean to kill him. You are the first person to give me a wholly true response outside compulsion.”

“Compulsion not persuasion.”

“Persuasion is a skill, compulsion is a power.”

“Fair.”

“We need to know who we have before we can plan.”

“I know, Aaron. I’ll make some calls.”

“Can I stay in your guest room?”

“Yes, you may. Keep Pyro out of the way when I’m working.”

“Of course.”

The next morning, Aaron woke up early. He told the sleeping form beside him, “You are to obey Erin as though she is me.” Stopping by the master bedroom, he said “Pyro will obey you today.” Slipping out was child’s play, having orchestrated many escapes from Legacy Control. He could never have the life his father had made, his scars were too memorable and the world was too willing to believe in his existence.

Andy woke to a familiar feeling, “Aaron why?” Becoming Erin, she went into the other bedroom “Come on out.” He stopped just past the threshold, “If you want to eat, you’ll have to fix your own breakfast but I’m not giving you free reign.” He followed her to the kitchen and she let him have a bowl of cereal before sitting at the small table with him. “Ask your question.”

“Why do I feel the compulsion with you?”

“I could make a quip about my mother’s title but the truth is Aaron ordered you to obey me. Neither of us were aware of his words.”

“You’re immune?”

“Not naturally, Aaron made sure we were all immune when he formed his inner circle.”

“Inner circle?”

“Not immediate inner circle, I was a lieutenant to one of his advisors, who insisted that his people be protected before Aaron earned his trust. You don’t trust him, never had, even as allies.”

“No, ma’am. Been used and abused too much for trust.”

Erin hummed at that but said nothing. Throughout the day, she gave him chores to do that kept his presence from interfering with her work. Aaron returned that evening with a bag of takeout, “Street psychic still pays.”

“Offer to guess what number they’re thinking then tell them the answer? That still works?”

“Apparently.” Aaron glanced at Pyro “Do I need to get him clothes or just pay you back?”

“The latter.”

“You can join us for dinner.” Aaron mostly ignored him, knowing he wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize his position, such as it was. His sacrifice had saved about twenty people but there were millions who could be exploited. He behaved and didn’t push his luck for them. His master had him wash the dishes before sending him to bed.

“So what have you been up to?”

“Checking on our resources.” Aaron gave her a rundown “What do you think of Pyro?”

“He could be useful, you should see about tapping into Brotherhood resources.”

Aaron did just that after Erin left for work the next day. He found a few things of interest, namely SHIELD’s infestation. “What would you do with this information?”

“Set up a killer distraction.”

“Explain.”

Pyro took a few moments to formulate his response, “Enact your plan while everyone’s dealing with HYDRA. Send someone to Stark; all you gotta do is indirectly pique his curiosity and he’ll do all the heavy lifting very publicly.”

“Providing the perfect cover. How?”

Pyro had to think about it, “Get a SHIELD agent to give you some files you can pass onto Stark indirectly, if he’s scheduled to be anywhere public then the hand-off will be easy.”

“If his public appearances don’t fit into my time table?”

“Got any shapeshifters on your side? Stark’s inner circle is pretty well known, so are the Avengers themselves.”

“Good idea.” He ran his hand through Pyro’s hair, petting the mutant.

Aaron spent months getting his people in place. In that time, Erin and Pyro formed a routine, accepting their boss/master would sometimes simply leave the latter in the former’s care without prior warning. Erin decided that torching her place would be the best way to ensure she had a life to return to and Aaron obligingly ordered Pyro to do it, leaving the mutant just enough freedom to give other tenants a chance to escape without commanding it so. Pyro was smart enough to notice that, just as he noticed the many signs of abuse Aaron displayed and recognized them from the kid’s time in the Brotherhood. Erin gave Aaron the keys to her car, which he gave to Pyro and ordered the blond to drive them to DC. The trip was uneventful, Aaron’s orders included focus on driving so his victim couldn’t hear them. Making a few stops for food and gas, they arrived in their nation’s capital where the mutant was guided to a warehouse and escorted his master inside. The meeting went well as far as he could tell and then they were off again. This time, Kile had him pull over on the side of the road and wait with him outside the car. Three aircraft carriers rose from hidden hangars nearby- helicarriers, Pyro’s mind corrected- and Aaron said “Showtime.” He made a call before having Pyro take them to the building the helicarriers surrounded. Once there, Pyro had to fight to get through SHIELD and HYDRA agents so his master could have evidence planted linking Legacy Control to the latter agency. “Fight smarter not harder, right?” Pyro didn’t respond, he wasn’t ordered to and although he could, it seemed unwise.

The building wound up catching fire along with the helicarriers and instead of using the fire mutant to save himself, Aaron’s last order was “Destroy the carriers and everything on them, whatever it takes.” A redhead, Black Widow, spoke into an earpiece as Pyro stalked off to obey. The carriers went down on their hangars and Pyro felt lighter somehow, he was able to tug the collar off as agents ran over to him. Spinning around, he called the flames to his hands.

They all stopped short, Widow said “Kile is down, you can stop.”

“Where?”

A blond woman said “The whole building is on fire, we need to get out.”

“I can’t burn. Where is Kile? He’s been known to come back from the dead.” They heard the anger in his voice and assumed it was directed towards his captor. Some part of him knew it should be but the larger part rationalized that the boy could be used against the mutant cause, his power was genetic after all.

A black man with a fucked up eye- Nick Fury, he was sure he shouldn’t know that- said “That’s great but we're not like you so how about we bolt and you go find the bastard-” he stopped talking when the fire around them jumped at him.

“Where is Kile? Last chance.”

The blond pointed behind them “Right where you left him.”

Pyro pulled the flames as he walked over, vaguely hearing someone comment “He can do that?” on his ability to put out fire. Picking the boy up, he hurried down the stairs. Fire chased him, abandoning its previous task of devouring the building. Once outside, he kept running until a familiar black jet blocked his path. He stopped short and waited for the ramp to descend before hustling aboard.

“What are you doing?” asked Iceman from the pilot’s seat.

Pyro sat down with Kile in his arms, pulling the strap down “Learning from my mistakes. He could’ve had me get him away from the fire. Instead he ordered me to take down the helicarriers, which would’ve killed millions if they crashed anywhere but in their hangars. Aaron tried to wage a shadow war on LC, that didn’t work so he resorted to extreme measures after losing his entire inner circle. His machine was never an attempt at world domination or patricide.”

“You just believe him?”

Pyro shrugged “Believe him or not, there was still a building full of dead and almost dead kids, there’s still an agency weaponizing children that is being protected when it should be called terrorist. What I believe doesn’t matter, does it?”

“Fine, we’ll bring him back and patch him up but we’ll probably end up turning him over to Secretary McCoy.”

“McCoy needs a precedent to make mutant trials a thing, a tortured child should do the trick.”

“Right.”

As the X-Man turned back to the controls, his girlfriend asked “How can you defend him?”

“I met another victim of LC, a boy who has to constantly masquerade as a girl to avoid being tortured because her brand of magic only works with her cousin as a focus and that’s not good enough for them. Aaron’s lot and the Brotherhood knew about HYDRA, what does it say about intelligence agencies when a group of hunted children know more than they do about terrorists?”

Kitty asked “What happened to your neck?”

“I’m allergic to Aaron’s pheromones, prolonged exposure happened. How come nobody used Cerebro to track me down? We all know that’s a non-invasive use of telepathy.”

“I don’t know.” She wrapped her arm around him, “Glad you’re back.”

“Yeah. Good to know someone cares.”

“You pushed us away,” said Iceman.

“I didn’t drink Xavier’s kool-aid, didn’t buy he wouldn’t use your minds to get around my anti-telepath rule. But y’know what, my distrust of Xavier didn’t stop Kitty from contacting me, it didn’t keep her away. She’s the only one who didn’t act like I was some lesser evil you had to deal with because McCoy said so, who didn’t seem to always circle back to ‘how could you join Magneto?’ She cared, you didn’t, get over yourself.”

Rogue said “Just ignore him. He ain’t got nuthin’ good to say, he shouldn’ say nuthin’ at all.”

“Just stating facts, Kitty made an effort.” Once they landed, Pyro hurried down the ramp to hand Aaron Kile over to Jean “They said he was dead but I felt a pulse.” Looking past her to Scott, he asked “Is the Danger Room open?”

Cyclops said “Yeah. Want-”

His former student was already rushing past him, tugging his shirt off to reveal more red irritation. Kitty followed him, telling Scott “I got this.”

Stopping in the locker room to change into some sweatpants, he ran to the Danger Room. Once assured the room was sealed, he exploded. The entire room was filled with fire, blocking the view from the observation deck. Pyro laid down on the metal floor and played with the flames for a while. Outside the room, Scott asked “Since when can he generate fire?”

Kitty explained “It’s one of the tricks he learned with Magneto, part of the reason he doesn’t trust the Professor.”

“His power grew while he was in the Brotherhood?”

“Not how he sees it.”

After he had his fun, Pyro stood up and with a wave of his hand, the flames were gone. He walked to the door, which Kitty unlocked, and found some of his clothes waiting for him. Taking them to the locker room, he threw out the nearly destroyed sweats after changing into clean clothes. “Is my RV here?”

“Yeah.”

On the way out, he saw Hank McCoy and made a detour. “Did you call Jess about her son yet? Because I’m pretty sure she was never called the first time or allowed to visit him. He’s a minor, that’s gotta be breaking some law.”

“Well, that’s a good point.”

Pyro glared at the tone, McCoy was hiding something, “Is Kile not here anymore?”

“He’s still in the infirmary but this is a complicated situation-”

“Oh God. He was a child, his mother was not allowed to know where he was, how is that not illegal?”

“It’s complicated-”

“No, it’s not.”

Hank snapped “It’s complicated because Legacy Control was linked to HYDRA!”

“Really, a shadowy clandestine agency specializing in weaponizing kids was linked to a shadowy terrorist organization obsessed with living weapons? If you’re trying to fight for mutant rights, maybe you should look into other countries that already have mutant rights, use the precedent.”

“There is no precedent-”

“Canada set a precedent. I mean they have registration but consider the trade off. Criminal investigations, including murder cases, end as soon as the victim is identified as a mutant. Being exposed turns minor infractions into life sentences, unless you got a Cabinet member arranging a pardon. C’mon, McCoy, mutants are blamed for their own murders. You’ve already seen how employers exploit us, that happens in both the private and public sectors. If we’re lucky, human employers will just pay us less than minimum wage but still. In Canada, mutants register, prove they have control and are left alone, they’re treated like regular human citizens. Sure, Kelly would’ve used the MRA to scapegoat mutants but you can’t tell me you’ve had any success fighting for mutant rights. Things are worse for us now than they were when you were my age and humans denied the existence of people who could do what we do.”

“John-”

“Pyro, my friends call me by my middle name and right now, I only have one of those.”

“Pyro, you seem well informed.”

“I’m not going to join Mutant Affairs, I’m just telling you that you could be more effective. Maybe you could take a page out of Kelly’s playbook. Magneto can throw tanks with a wave of his hand, what’s to stop him from throwing the President’s limo into the Oval Office? He certainly doesn’t care for politicians, for people who try to weaponize what he calls his people, for people who threaten mutants with registration for being different. He could level cities and yet, he hasn’t. I’m sure you can think of about half a dozen examples. They wanna say we’re threats to them, agree and ask why we haven’t destroyed them. It’s not complicated, use their argument against them. If you actually look, I’m sure you can find facts. Just don’t forget, this whole thing is founded in fear, in emotion not logic. And make sure you call Jess about her son, don’t disappear him again.” With that, Pyro left. Kitty hitched a ride with him to New York. “Damnit.”

“What?”

“My bike, it’s still wherever Aaron’s lieutenant was staying. He had me torch the building, that might’ve wrecked the bike too.”

“I’m sure we can find the building you burned and get your bike back, if it’s still intact.”

“Right.”

John quickly got a job at a bar where the owner let him keep his RV in the far corner. His bike was returned to him once a forensics lab finished processing it as evidence.


	4. Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened to Aaron after Pyro brought him in

While Pyro burned the helicarriers, Aaron ordered the SHIELDRA technicians “Move away from your stations and proceed to the nearest exit, evacuating the building takes priority.” He was killed for refusing to allow the nearby Black Widow access while his accomplices worked on securing the servers before sharing the data with relevant authorities.

Surprisingly, Aaron did not wake up in the wreckage of a burned building nor in federal custody. He woke up in the X-Men’s infirmary with his mother at his bedside. Hank McCoy and a blind lawyer named Matt Murdock met with them after Dr. Grey cleared him for visitors. “As I’m sure you’re aware, Legacy Control was a facet of HYDRA. Your actions have been thoroughly reviewed and you are being given a clean slate.”

“No.”

McCoy was caught off guard “No?”

Before Murdock could step in, Aaron said “No cover up. I want this,” he gestured vaguely “Whatever you call what you just said, I want it made public.” He turned to Matt “Since we’re all kids, I’m pretty sure they can’t give out our names but I don’t want this swept under the rug like it was every time one of us tried to out them. No cover up. I don’t care if I have to go to prison, they tortured kids for not having control or not having powers. They shouldn’t get away with it.” He turned back to McCoy and spoke in a cold tone “My answer is no, I’m not taking whatever deal you’re here to offer to make this go away.”

When McCoy turned to his mother, Jessica said “I’m with him. Enough with the cover ups, you just said they’re HYDRA and since he didn’t give an order, you can’t claim he abused his powers. Aren’t you supposed to be on our side, ensuring kids with powers are treated fairly and not weaponized?”

McCoy said “The situation is complicated. I’d like to use Mr. Kile-”

“Jones. Kile is short for Killgrave, which is an alias used by Kevin Thompson. His name should be Jones.”

“I’d like to use him to set a precedent, opening the door for other kids.”

Murdock said “Once you have a list, I’m sure my client’s associates will be able to corroborate it. As of right now, you just admitted he’s not under arrest. I must ask you to leave so I can speak with my client.”

“Of course,” they shook hands.

A couple weeks after he woke up, he attended his mother’s wedding and had his name legally changed to Aaron Philip Lucas. Legacy Control was not only shut down for real and for good this time, it was crucified as possibly the worst branch of HYDRA. Aaron had said they tortured kids and he was not exaggerating. Aaron Kile was being lauded and an honest review of all his actions had already exposed his true intentions with the infamous machine. As Aaron Lucas, he was privately tutored until he reached grade level then enrolled in a charter school his mother checked out. Schools that accept Enhanced children are rare and many take advantage of the students. Rand Enterprises sponsored Alias Investigations’ deep dive into this problem, giving more credence to the results and power to mutant rights advocates for reform. Danny Rand and Trish Walker were named Aaron Lucas’s godparents, with the latter already acting as next-of-kin due to being his legal maternal aunt.

**PM**

“How does this work?” Aaron Lucas asked Matt Murdock. They were discussing ways he could use his persuasive powers lawfully. Many lawyers liked the idea of paying Aaron to win civil suits, law enforcement liked the potential for enhanced interrogation. Matt was Aaron’s family lawyer so he wasn’t worried about being exploited by the attorney.

“First we meet with Mutant Affairs to ask just that question, they help mutants find work that suits them.”

“So they can figure out how to legalize my power?”

“Exactly.”

“What exactly would I use my power for? I know what people want me to use my power for, lawyers want me to win cases, cops and the feds and pretty much everybody remotely involved in that part of law enforcement wants me to close cases. Even when I was with the Brotherhood, I just told Worthington and those other guys to tell the truth.”

“And we have proof of that, which is helpful and harmful to what we’re trying to do now.”

“Because you can prove how I used my power, which brings up the question of my loyalty.”

“Exactly.”

“Still doesn’t answer my question. What would I use my power for once we got it proven in a court of law or whatever?”

“That’s up to you. There are the options you brought up as well as mediation and suicide prevention, you could talk to at-risk people to uncover the root of their problems.”

“Yeah. Alright so when do we start?”

“I’ll make the appointment and Jess will need to come with us.”

“Since she’s immune and that always puts people at ease.”

“True but I was going to say since you’re a minor.”

“Right.”

Murdock worked fast and Mutant Affairs was only too happy to use this landmark case to push mutant rights forward, thus Aaron had a legal basis to use his powers for work. He was officially an employee of Alias Investigations and took cases on the same freelance basis his mother did, although his cases varied more in scope. Most of his cases amounted to mediation, wives wanting their husbands to confess to cheating and the like, but occasionally, law enforcement sought his help on cases. Whenever he used his power, he had to videotape it to prove he wasn’t abusing his power.


	5. A New Life

A few weeks after he started work, John’s supervisor, Rick, asked him to take his break outside. He found Jean Grey and Logan outside his trailer, and immediately understood. “What’s so important you couldn’t wait until daytime?”

“You’ve been screening my calls.” Jean asked “May we come in?”

“Sure,” John waved for them to follow him to the bar.

“We’re not gonna hurt you.”

“Kitty’s sleeping in there.”

“Really? Not that you’re making it up-”

“You can ask her when she’s awake, maybe ambush her at work.”

“This isn’t an ambush-”

Logan said, “Look, kid. Why don’t you stop walking so we can tell you the news and get it over with?”

John looked at the time on his phone before walking over “It’s not time for my break so I only really have, like, five minutes, just spit it out.”

“Jean compared our DNA,”

“And you’re my father, I already knew that.”

“How?” asked Jean.

“If you put Sabretooth treating me like family and Allerdyce breaking his hand hitting another guy together, it paints a pretty clear picture.” John looked down at Logan’s hand “Pop your claws, I wanna show you something and I don’t have a knife on me.” Wolverine held out a fist, three shiny blades extending from the knuckles. Before anyone could stop him, Pyro ran his wrist over them. Holding out his uninjured hand, he said “Watch.” The skin around the wound glowed and what looked like fire covered the bloody opening before vanishing.

Jean grabbed his arm to examine the area “It’s like nothing happened.”

“Yeah, that’s why I filled the Danger Room with fire when I got back, I can heal using the flames.”

“And you were having a deadly allergic reaction.”

John nodded “I gotta get back to work.” He asked Logan “Does Kitty have your number?”

The older mutant said “You should.”

His son pulled up his call logs and selected one of the screened calls “This it?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.” He made a contact for his father and went back inside.

As they were closing, Rick asked “Who were those people?”

“One of them was my bio-dad, the other was the doctor that made the connection.”

“In that case, you could’ve knocked off early.”

“Nah, it was already awkward enough. I think I’ll call him once I’m ready to deal with all that.”

“Right.”

“Besides, you already let me take an unscheduled break.”

Rick laughed “What are friends for?”

Changing the subject, John asked “What are the odds today?”

“Not good, John, and getting worse everyday.”

“Let me know if they get better.”

“Of course. Y’know I got a vested interest.”

“Right, your old friend I know nothing about.”

“He’s the Hulk.”

“I imagine he prefers Dr. Banner.”

“Nah, Banner’s cool but the big guy’s my main man.”

“Which is how you wound up managing a bar in the slums while both Banner and Hulk live it up Avengers Tower.”

“We split for safety reasons.”

“Rick, if he was ever really your friend, he’d love to see you and there’s no place on Earth that’s safer than Avengers Tower.”

“I guess.” Moving away from the bar he just inventoried, Rick Jones tossed his keys in the air and caught them “Later, John.”

“I’ll see you tonight.”

“Right,” Jones locked up and rode away while John climbed into his RV to crash for a few hours before class.

When he woke up, Kitty had breakfast waiting. “Thanks.” John sat down to eat, “Jean and Logan paid me a visit last night, I was right about him being my bio-dad.”

“What are you gonna do about it?”

“I don’t know, not sure I can handle another dad.”

“Logan’s not like that.”

“Nobody thought Allerdyce was like that, even after mom’s death.”

“Allerdyce? Wait, do you know Logan’s real name?”

“Sort of and that’s all I’m gonna say about it unless he gives me permission to share more.”

“That’s fair. What’s on the agenda for you today?”

“I got class then I’m gonna swing by the youth center for a few hours. I got work tonight but I’ll probably be done at the youth center long before my shift. What about you?”

“No work, I’ll probably hang out with Bobby, maybe take him to the youth center to help the mutant kids. I got class and that’s about it.”

“Alright.”

That night, John spent ten minutes waiting for Rick to open the bar before calling the owner. “Rick’s late and I need to get into the bar to set up for tonight.” Unlike most employees, John and Rick opened and closed together.

With a sigh, Angel said “I’ll be right over.” Once inside, she asked “Do you and Rick have a routine?”

“Yeah. Before opening, he unlocks the register and makes sure the bar is stocked for the night while I sweep then we take down the chairs and I wipe everything down. After closing, he collects unfinished drinks to dispose of, inventories the bar and helps me wipe down any spills then locks up once all the chairs are up. I clear the tables, chairs, bar and floor then sort everything into lost and found, recycling and trash. I try to mop every night and put the chairs up. When Rick does inventory, I think he compares it to the receipts before locking the computer because that usually takes more time than other things.”

“I knew he was good but wow.”

“The bouncers sometimes come up to him at the bar, I think they’re friends but sometimes, it seems like they’re checking in.”

“Rick tends bar?”

“Yeah, we might not be able to serve the full menu tonight, I think some drinks are his specialty.”

“Great. You seem to know Rick’s habits pretty well.”

“Uh, yeah. He and I open and close together almost every night.”

“Think you could help me fill in for him?”

“Sure, but don’t ask me about those drinks, you’ll want to ask the actual bartender.”

“I hope Rick’s alright.”

“Yeah, me too. If he doesn’t show and you have to call the cops, let me know before you give them my name.”

“Because of your past?”

“Yeah but mostly because I’m a mutant and cops tend to close cases once they got a mutant to blame so I need to loop my lawyer in.”

“I’ll give him all night and if he doesn’t show or call before noon tomorrow, I’m calling the cops.”

“Alright. I’ll visit my lawyer tomorrow.”

They managed, somehow, Angel realized how much she depended on Rick when the other bartenders turned out to be clueless about his specialty drinks. John got some scotch tape and a black sharpie to fix the menus. She could admit she was impressed with the way he moved throughout the bar, popping up just when she needed him. After closing, one of the bouncers stayed to help. “Rick’s gotta be okay, right man?” He asked John.

“I don’t know. Y’know how he said he used to know the Hulk, I told him to visit the Tower if that’s true. He didn’t seem convinced but maybe someone found the connection. Still, I hope he’s okay. Not a lot of people willing to stand up for what’s right and even fewer understand compromise.”

“Yeah.”

“John.” Angel said “If it comes down to it, I’m gonna give you a key. Think you can help me fix everyone’s schedules while Rick’s gone?”

“Sure, uh, can you come by the youth center in Mutant Town tomorrow? I’m mentoring this kid and if I don’t show,”

“I know how youth centers work, John. I’ll come by tomorrow, what time?”

“Uh,” John pulled out his phone “3.”

“You have a schedule?”

“After school everyday unless I have class.”

“You’re a good man.”

“Thanks. Are we ready to lock up?”

Angel nodded and they left the bar. Outside, after Tom left, she asked “So you mop every night?”

“Yeah, after closing.”

“Let me just get this straight. Everyday, you sweep, mop, wipe down tables, sort trash and recycling, clean the glassware, put chairs up and take them down.”

“Yeah. Rick even told me I don’t have to do it all everyday but routines are good for me. Before this, I drove around taking jobs with employers that flaunted labor laws because most of their employees were mutants. I had to collect mountains of evidence and find a human co-worker, usually a parolee, to get them shut down. Sometimes, I couldn’t do that fast enough and when the violations would cause problems, the bosses would blame the mutant employees. I saw good people die and bad people get away with murder, not only get away with it, get paid for it. I like it here, this is exactly what mutants are fighting for, the right to be treated like everyone else.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I just thought you should know, you seem pro-mutant.”

“I’m not.” She smiled “I’m not pro-mutant, I am a mutant. It’s nice to hear that isn’t coloring my reputation.”

“Yeah.”

She began to walk away before turning back “I’m sorry, I just realized I can’t punch Mutant Town into a GPS. Would mind giving me the official name for the place?”

“M Town Youth Center, it’s officially in the Middle East Side.”

“M Town, really?”

“Mutant Town is the neighborhood’s unofficial name, it’s about as impoverished as you can get honestly but the Center offers free services and depends on volunteers, just so you know.”

“Thanks. I’ll be there tomorrow at 3.”

“Feel free to come by anytime. Kids who can’t go to school, spend the day there. I’m in a mentorship program but I also help with homework and lessons for kids who can’t blend.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See ya.”

After her first visit, Angel made an effort to both volunteer and donate to the Center. A week after she reported Rick missing, once the cops and Matt Murdock had it out about John’s mutant status, he called his dad “Hey. I’m going to Avengers Tower tomorrow, can we meet there?”

_“Why are you going to the Tower?”_

“My boss at the bar, he was a friend of Bruce’s and I thought he should know the guy’s missing.”

_“How long?”_

“Going on a week, the owner promoted me to fill his place and once the cops hear about that, I don’t think I’ll be allowed visitors.”

_“See you tomorrow.”_

John met his father outside the Tower, “After you.”

“You waited.”

“Yeah, figured you’d know how to bypass the desk since I don’t have an appointment.”

“Right.” Logan simply led him to the last elevator in the line, one which lacked a call button.

“Where to?” asked JARVIS.

“We’re here to see Banner.”

John added “It’s about Rick Jones’ disappearance.”

The elevator took them to an empty apartment, “Dr. Banner will be with you shortly.”

When the man arrived, he asked “What’s this about Rick?”

John explained “Until a week ago, he was my boss at a bar. The night Jean Grey confirmed Logan is my bio-dad was the last night I saw him. He mentioned he knew you and I kept telling him to come here. Then a week ago, I had to call the bar’s owner to open when he didn’t show up for work. She waited until noon the next day, giving him time to call her, before reporting him missing. My lawyer and the cops already had it out when they tried to blame me just ‘cause I’m a mutant. The owner of the bar promoted me since I opened and closed with him every night, I can’t imagine the cops are convinced of my innocence so I figured I should tell you before they arrest me again. If they get past my lawyer, and they actually refused to let me call my lawyer the first time so I’m just lucky my boss knew to call him, but if they get past him then Rick’s case will be closed. No trial, no body, just a mutant in lock up forever.”

“Thank you for telling me.”

“I’m serious about getting arrested. Before Kile took me, I saw good people die and then get blamed for their own deaths because I couldn’t get authorities to move against crooked business owners who flaunted labor laws by employing mostly mutants. I’m sorry to put this on you, I know you and Rick both blame yourselves for the accident, but the only real way Rick gets justice is if you use your Avengers status to find him because the cops seemed pretty adamant about locking me up for it and I have an airtight alibi.”

“What’s your alibi? Just-”

“Same thing I do everyday, or did. I helped Rick close, went to my RV for a few hours’ sleep, went to class, went to the M Town Youth Center and had dinner with my girlfriend before work. When Rick was ten minutes late to open, I called the owner. I gave the cops names for my classmates, fellow volunteers, my girlfriend obviously, I even told them the exact route I took and what traffic was like that day. They have evidence I didn’t do it and they’re still trying to blame me so you and Stark are probably his best bet.”

“Right, thanks. JARVIS, can you track Rick for me?”

“Yes, Sir.”

John turned to Logan, pulling a notebook out of his bag, “I wrote down everything Victor told me about you before Weapon X.”

“Thanks.”

“If you need me, I’ll probably be in jail soon.”

“You do good work, kid.”

John stopped on his way to the elevator and turned around “What are you talking about?”

“Prof was using his influence to take out his frustration about your no-telepaths rule. He was so subtle, it took Scott nearly slugging a student to figure out he was doing it.”

“He put everyone involved on edge and Scott snapped at the wrong person?”

“Yeah. McCoy told us how he found you.”

“You know about the corporate exploitation?”

“I know about the trials too.” John hummed, “Good people, mutants, killed by blatant labor law violations then blamed to cover up said violations. You never gave up and you made the law do its job.”

“Yeah, well, I surprise myself sticking around this long. You and me are both drifters. If nothing else, I’m glad I get that from you. Maybe if mom was more willing to follow your lead, she’d still be alive.”

“What are you talking about?”

John said “I was trying to show my mom my powers when my step-dad startled me. I wish I wasn’t immune to fire, maybe if I had caught fire then he would’ve gotten her out instead of what happened. What I really wish, since I don’t have the will to do it on purpose even knowing he’s not my father, is that I would’ve responded defensively and thrown the fire at him without thinking instead of letting it fall and catch on the cloth.”

“You burned her accidentally.”

“You killed your bio-dad accidentally, it’s in the book. I won’t take offense if you don’t remember her.”

“I broke your step-dad’s hand in a fight?”

“He broke his hand hitting you, or punching you, I’m not sure but if we ever get mutant rights passed then you can confront him about it and let him break something else,” John tapped his head, “Being a dumbass bastard.”

“Sounds good.”

“In the meantime, why don’t you join me and Kitty on our annual trip to Deerfield?”

“Deerfield?”

“We visit her parents every year for Hanukkah. I’d never invite my step-dad for obvious reasons but family’s a big part of the holidays.” He grinned “Plus, Kitty and I have a bet going in regards to her parents’ reaction to you.”

“Okay. When is Hanukkah?”

“This year,” he pulled his phone out and showed Logan “The actual date is based on the Hebrew calendar not the common one.”

“Alright.”

“I got a trailer for my bike, probably just have to buy some extra bungee cords for yours.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Rick Jones was found rather quickly and the information was anonymously sent to the authorities, with JARVIS recording their response and forwarding the video to Mutant Affairs when relevant. His kidnapping was made public when JARVIS found a connection to the government, namely the Army (“Big surprise,” Bruce muttered to himself when the AI shared that bit of information with him), as was the reason the Avengers got involved, namely the police focusing on a bus boy because he’s a mutant.


	6. Road Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To avoid accidental anti-semitism, I tried not to outright describe Jewish customs/traditions/etc. The working title for this was Hanukkah

In late November, John told Kitty “I invited Logan to ride with us to your parents so I need to get extra bungee cords for his bike. Think you can help me set up the trailer?”

“Sure but maybe you should ask Logan to help too.”

John did, inadvertently inviting Scott to his place in the process. “I was wondering how you hid a trailer,” he said as John removed the pieces from the undercarriage.

“I knew a great mechanic who set this up on a dare. I can also put the panels on the side and back but this draws less attention when I’m parked.” John sighed “You can look underneath but all you’ll see are a few spots in the frame for screwing the panels in place. Now, either help me put this together or leave me alone.” He directed Scott, Kitty and Logan to help him reassemble the trailer, the wheels were found under the bunk and floor. “Before we set off, I gotta get the tires checked.”

“This might be an interesting project for Forge.”

“Forge?”

“Yeah,” Scott admitted “I don’t know his real name.”

“Okay. you give him a call and I’ll let him take a look in the new year.”

“Deal.”

John went around and made adjustments to the set-up then hooked the trailer to the camper. “I’ll get the tires checked then swing by the school. Alright?” Logan nodded and shook John’s hand. His son shooed Scott away, “See ya.” As his former teacher walked away, John invited Logan inside. “The drive takes a couple days usually. Have you read the book I gave you?”

Kitty said “You gave him a book?”

“I wrote down everything Victor told me and gave it to him.”

“Oh, right.”

Logan answered “Yes, why?”

“Just wondering what name you’re using. You have two, James Howlett Junior and James Logan. I’ll introduce you as my bio-dad, Kitty’s parents already know Allerdyce is my stepdad.”

“I’ll stick with Logan.”

“Okay. As soon as I figure out a middle name, I’ll change my name to John Logan then.”

Logan nodded “So you go to Illinois every year?”  
“Mm-hm. Well, I mean, you make it sound like I’ve done it a lot. This is only, what, my third year?” He asked Kitty, who shrugged.

“You two have been together three years?”

“Well, aw crap.” John sighed as he realized he’d talked himself into a corner. “Remember when I was healing and the government was dragging its feet with the pardon?” He got an eye roll and a nod. “Kitty must have some immunity to telepathy or something because she was sorta nice to me even then. We weren’t besties but I did end up telling her that I planned to swing by Mutant Town after I got my pardon and she- don’t get me wrong, she wasn’t happy with me- but she invited me to spend Hanukkah with her family. She said something more along the lines of if I was in the area. I kinda put myself in the area, we weren’t a couple but her parents were nice and I learned a bit about their faith. As of last year, we were kind of a couple. The Prydes are nice, they’re cool about the whole mutant thing. Kenny thinks my powers are cool.”

Kitty said “My cousin Kenny is in middle school and my family already counts John among us.”

“Right.”

Logan asked “Is this serious?” pointing between them.

John rolled his eyes, “Well, we live together, don’t we?”

“Yeah.” Logan and John both smiled, clearly the elder mutant didn’t know who to threaten.

John shook his head with a smile “That’s the bet.” At his father’ look, “The bet I mentioned. Her dad already tried to trick me into having a very serious talk when we were only just starting out. Kitty and I are trying to guess how he’ll react to you in regards to us. You know what a shovel talk is, right?”

“Treat her right or they’ll never find the body?” guessed Logan.

“Yeah, well you can make that true. Who better to hide a body than a tracker?”

Logan shook his head fondly, “That’s a good one.”

“It’ll be even better if he actually tries to loop you in on it. We’re not sure how things are gonna go. I already had one serious talk with him about my intentions, which were and sort of are to see where this goes but this,” he waved between them “Is definitely serious.”

“Yeah.”

John looked between them “This’ll be interesting if nothing else.” He asked Kitty “Is Kenny’s family staying for the holidays?”

“I’m not sure. They’re not too far away if they don’t.”

“True. I was thinking about sleeping arrangements but even if they do spend Hanukkah with your parents, there’s always our couch, their couch and the blow up.”

“Right.”

Logan nodded, mostly to himself. They talked a bit more before he rode back to the school for the night.

**PM**

The first night they were in Deerfield was eventful. Kenny was kidnapped and Logan tracked the child to a secret facility deep in some woods where mutant kids were being experimented on. With Kitty, John and the Deerfield sheriff (the father of one of the other victims), he raided the facility. Deerfield was a small town and everyone in it was very grateful to Logan for shutting down the lab and helping recover the abducted kids. Based on the files Kitty recovered, some of the kids had been taken by fake federal agents, some had their families killed by their abductors, the operation was very sophisticated. John called the mansion to get mutants and Mutant Affairs on the case. The rest of the trip was very chill, Logan learned about Judaism and John got the expected shovel talk.


	7. Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two-for-one focusing on Christmas celebrations

**Georgia Christmas**

Jessica and Luke went down to Georgia for Christmas to introduce Aaron to Luke’s father. “This is my stepson, Aaron Lucas.”

“I see I wasn’t invited to the wedding.”

Jessica explained “There was no wedding, we just signed the paperwork. My son’s last name used to be Kile.” Aaron Kile was infamous even in Savannah and James understood why they would have rushed the paperwork to give the boy a second chance at life.

Aaron had never been exposed to any sort of religion before their trip down to Georgia. He was fascinated and James Lucas took full advantage of his grandson’s fascination, using it to teach him all about their faith. “He was dead for three days? Or just in the tomb?”

“Dead, I think.”

“It’s never taken me three days to come back.”

“What?”

“It’s one of the powers I get from my birth father. Lethal force sends me into a trance while I heal, which looks like death except I heal. I also get enhanced durability from my mom and that makes it hard to send me into the death trance. Y’know it probably has taken Kilgrave more than three days to come back.”

“You call your-”

“He’s not my dad. I spent a few weeks with him when I was, like, ten but that was after I tracked him down and got the Brotherhood to abduct him. Parents are supposed to be a part of your life, which means Carl is my father not Kevin Thompson or Zebediah Kilgrave or whatever his name is. I guess either way, my dad has two names, his birth name and his common name.” Aaron looked at his grandfather with eyes wise beyond their years “He still uses your name for legal stuff, you shouldn’t get too hung up on him going by Luke Cage in the day-to-day. Kevin denied his name was Kevin but if Carl did the same then I’d be Aaron Cage. Ironically Carl Lucas and Luke Cage have the same initials, just inverted.” Then he asked another question about James’ faith, the pastor taking a minute to refocus and answer.

**Mutant Christmas**

Upon learning about how many people spend Christmas in the M Town Youth Center, Kurt asked “How can I help?” The administrator he asked got a gleam in her eye.

On the night of December 24th, M Town had its annual Christmas party. The neighborhood had gone uphill in recent years. While still rundown, District X was less of a slum, no longer competing with Hell’s Kitchen for highest crime rates. An argument could easily be made that the improvement came from the youth center becoming the center of Mutant Town life, from people both inside and outside the neighborhood giving as much as they can to the youth center, which then distributed the material donations. On December 24th, Kurt Wagner and Piotr Rasputin dressed up in red and green, picked up some gift donations, and teleported to the center. One of the regular volunteers piped up in an overly happy tone “Look who it is, Santa and one of his elves.” Kurt had a bit of fun stuffing Piotr’s coat to give him a big belly for their little Christmas surprise. Setting the gifts down, the pair joined the Christmas celebration for a few hours before hurrying out as midnight approached.

“That was fun,” said Piotr.

“Ja.” Kurt agreed as they stripped out of their garish costumes to join the X-Men Christmas party, which was sort of an alumni party.


	8. Year’s End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John rings in the new year at the mansion and gets more than he bargained for

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Google says that Hanukkah 2020 is from December 10 to 18th, that’s what I’m going with. Kitty is canonically Jewish, which is the only reason I’m bringing any sort of religion into this.

John drove his RV up to the school a few days before New Year after Scott called to let him know Forge was there, ready to check it out and upgrade it. Angel had closed the bar for a meeting with Rick, going over end of the year logistics. He had nothing better to do so he made the long drive upstate. Setting out early, he beat the morning rush and arrived around noon. Kitty got out first while he gathered up some things for Hank before following her “Hey, Scott.”

A tan skinned man with the X-Men’s leader looked at his home “The trailer’s underneath, right?”

“Yeah. You must be Forge.”

“Must be.”

“Don’t screw up my house or trick it out too much, I still gotta pay the insurance even if I don’t pay lot rent.”

“Understood.”

Scott added “Keep it user friendly, Forge.”

“I will, I will, chill.”

Scott invited John in while Forge inspected the rig, getting him to promise to run any changes by the owner. As predicted, Hank was visiting the school. John asked “Is this your legal address?” handing him the bag.

“Merry Christmas to you.”

“I think you mean Happy Hanukkah and thanks.”

“What’s this?”

“Mutant death certificates, all of my arrest records since settling in New York and a bunch of other stuff I was asked to pass on to you after I let slip I knew you at the M Town youth center. They’re cool with you coming by if you want to talk to Dr. Reyes or anyone but they’d like some heads up and they’re against making a spectacle of the visit.”

“Understood.”

John pulled out his phone, “Got a business card or something? I’ll send you all of the videos we made of police harassment and stuff. Can’t argue with evidence too much, right?”

“That’s right.” Hank gave John his card and the younger mutant sent him a ton of videos, some that weren’t even from John but instead sent to him because he knew someone who could get mutants out of jail. “Thank you, for all of this.”

“No problem. I’ll text you Dr. Reyes' number and send her yours so you can figure out a time to drop by before you have to head back to DC. You never answered my question about your address.”

“No, this is not my legal address but it was before I moved to DC.”

“Before Mutant Affairs was founded. You’ve always been in charge of the department, right?”

“That’s right.” Hank lifted the bag, “I’ll look through this and get the bag back to you.”

“Thanks.” John detoured to the kitchen to grab a soda. He joined his former classmates in one of the sitting rooms, “Bobby?” he smiled and the ice mutant smiled back as he held his hand over the bottle to chill it. “Thanks.”

Kitty quickly explained for him “John doesn’t drink.”

“I’m not old enough yet and even if I was, I see enough drunks at work.” That was true, he was 20 not 21. John turned to Kurt “Thanks for making an appearance at the youth center, you made those kids year.”

Bobby was confused “What are you talking about?”

“What’s Logan’s nickname for Kurt?”

“Elf, oh.” Bobby turned to Kurt “That’s awesome, man.”

“It was nothing.”

“For the kids in Mutant Town, it was everything. Of course, it didn’t hurt you roped Piotr into dressing up as Santa.”

Piotr said “It was fun. I didn’t know how much the youth center did before that.”

“The youth center is actually a community center and one of the safest buildings in Mutant Town.”

Scott said “Speaking of, I’ve been talking to some of their administrators. We’re going to coordinate volunteer opportunities for extra credit in any class as long as students use the provided slip for each class to document hours. Bobby, you got that license?”

“Yeah, I can drive the bus.”

“Good. That’ll start in the new year.”

John stole his thunder “And lemme guess, the X-Men are going to set a good example by helping fix up other buildings in M Town?” At Scott’s nod, John shook his head “No, you’re not. I’m sure you haven’t discussed those plans with anyone in Mutant Town because if you had then you’d know they don’t want that. You want to do something great to set an example, go through the donations from past students and gather some boxes to give to the youth center, give the staff a direct line to the X-Men. Hell, you can leave scholarship forms for orphan mutants. Those are nice, considerate things you can do. Going in to fix things up, that can and will be taken the wrong way and you’ll soon see those volunteer opportunities you arranged vanish into thin air. They have enough college or college age kids like me helping out.”

“Understood.”

John asked Storm, “Is he high?”

“Not that I know of but he does have access to the infirmary supply room.”

Scott said “I am not high, and I’m sorry I was such a jerk to you.”

“Yeah, heard from a friend you’re the reason anyone else caught onto the Professor’s mind games.”

“That’s true. Still, I’m sorry.”

“I would’ve almost thought being Logan’s son would cancel that out. Apology accepted or whatever.”

“I’m not apologizing to Logan.”

“Never thought you would.” John shrugged “Did Logan bring you up to speed on what we found in Deerfield? I know I didn’t give you much details.”

“We’re monitoring the situation, coordinating more raids. It’s going well, all things considered.”

“Right.” John held his hand out, summoned a flame and asked for Piotr’s bottle. “Just for a quick trick.” He splashed turned the flame in his hand so it was next to his hand then spread it out before pouring alcohol onto the flame. The alcohol made the fire grow and not a drop hit the table beneath, amazing his fellow mutants, “Not the easiest thing to do. Usually, I just douse a table and burn only the alcohol but it works on the same principle.” He returned the bottle, “I was trying to get us off shop talk, seems I missed the mark.”

Scott chuckled “Yeah. Do you want to learn how to fly the Blackbird?”

“I’m not an X-Man.”

“I know but you were top of your class when you were a trainee.”

“Just don’t ask me to drive a car, I only have a motorcycle and RV license.”

“Of course you do.” They went downstairs.

“What’s really up?” asked John in the elevator.

“I wanted to know if you’d be willing to teach us some of the moves you picked up in the Brotherhood. It’s my understanding you learned from Mystique and Sabretooth.”

“Most of what I learned from Sabretooth was in that notebook I gave Logan. I get you’re trying but I’m happy being on the outside, I have no interest in being on either side of the mutant war.”

“You still fight for our kind.”

“Quite literally. You really need to check out those files I gave Hank, they might give both of you much needed perspective.”

“You can still help us.”

“What do you call what happened in Deerfield? Neither Logan nor Kitty were gonna call you. Logan’s cool with me not calling him dad.”

“Right.”

“This is the only setting you have.”

“What?”

“It’s like Batman. Bruce Wayne is just a mask whereas Batman is who he is. Leader of the X-Men is all you are. If the day ever came where the X-Men weren’t needed, where the mission was completed, mutant rights achieved. If we were ever living the dream, you’d have an identity crisis, maybe a nervous breakdown. Those two go hand-in-hand, I think. That’s why we’re both bad at avoiding shop talk. Kitty and I have trouble with it too. I swear, Rick wanted to shake me when he found out we almost never go on dates. I keep busy, it’s sort of a bad habit from right after I got my pardon. But now that I’m aware of that habit, I’m trying to break it. Hence me coming here instead of asking Forge to come out to the bar, I came for the holiday party and I came early to avoid traffic.” John confided “I once had the bar all ready to open and tricked some of my fellow employees into heading into work then realized it was a holiday and the bar was supposed to be closed, just running on autopilot. What’s your autopilot?” They reached the basement, “I’m not flying the Blackbird, I am going to ask you to open up the medical supply room and help me pack a first aid kit for the youth center with supplies you can’t get without a ton of paperwork. M Town a Dr. Cecilia Reyes and she’s trained in emergency medicine but as you can imagine, ambulances are better stocked than her clinic.”

“Will do.”

“You’re signing everything out, you’re responsible for raiding the restricted medicine.”

“I know, I get it. You’re pretty wise.”

“I’ve had an identity crisis or two but only, like one nervous breakdown and luckily it was after I got my RV so I could hide when everything hit me like a ton of bricks. I wouldn’t want anyone to deal with that, especially when so many kids could be hurt if you lash out in confusion.”

“I apologized for that.”

“I know.”

**PM**

John joined the X-Men to raid the last base in the mutant trafficking ring he had discovered in Deerfield. He contacted Mystique to get Magneto to join the charge after explaining to Hank how Raven was trying to get herself and a lot of less than willing recruits out, the Secretary of Mutant Affairs was working on deals for all of the defectors. The raid itself was completed with next to no problems, getting the defectors away from Magneto proved to be the challenge. Channeling all the stubbornness that was apparently hereditary, John stood as a wall. He distracted Magneto with a fight, his former boss taunting “I thought you were done with all of us.”

“I’m just here to get the kids to safety. We had a deal, Erik. Anyone who wants to is free to join you but you can’t force them to.”

The fight ended when Jean threw Magneto into a wall and lifted an I-beam off John, helping him stand. The fire from the fight vanished as John ran to the Blackbird, some flames pressed against his back to heal him. Aboard the jet, he grabbed a spare jacket and put it on before taking the copilot’s seat and grabbing the headset to direct Raven to the Morlocks in Connecticut. Once they were cruising and everyone had been checked out by Dr. Grey, she and John switched places. “Hi,” he smiled at the kids, “I’m John. What are your names?”

Most of the answers were pretty normal until one girl answered “X-23.”

John looked at her “X as in Weapon X?” She nodded. “And that’s all anyone has ever called you? X-23? No one has ever called you anything else?”

“Dr. Kinney called me Laura.”

“Laura Howlett.” At her confused look, “Howlett is Wolverine’s last name and kids usually get their father’s last name, which means your name is Laura Howlett.”

“I’m not- I’m his clone.”

“If you were a true clone then you would be a man not a girl because clones are exact copies of the source material. Your unwitting donor is a man but you’re a girl so I’m gonna say you’re his daughter, which makes you my sister since Wolverine is also my father, half-sister anyway.”

“John Howlett.”

“One day, I actually have my stepfather’s last name but I plan to change it, which is something adults can legally do. You actually get to pick your middle name since I highly doubt you have a birth certificate already.”

John was sitting on the floor of the jet when a smile crossed his face. He hit the floor with both hands on either side of him then clapped, repeating the motions to form a rhythm. As everyone who was not flying the jet turned to look at him, sparks started shooting out of his hand when he clapped. The rhythm continued, picking up the pace as the sparks grew into flames which in turn grew, taking longer to die out. The fire grew to be almost as big as him before he stopped adding to it and instead shaped the flames, to the amazement of the kids they rescued. “This is a very showy way to use pyrokinesis. I can use my power to do this or burn down something like the White House. It’s the same power, no power is inherently bad.” He made a rolling motion with his hands and the flames shifted to wrap around his arms. “This takes a lot of control, it’d be very easy to let go and just watch the fire consume the plane. Maybe I’d even survive that fall, truth be told it’s a possibility.” He twisted his left arm outward and the fire around that arm shot forward, the kids in its path scrambled back and John made the fire curve upwards in an arc. Grabbing his left elbow with his right hand, he added to the fire as it spun around the air. With the fire on his right arm gone, he held up that hand and caught the fire, which vanished as it crashed into his hand. “Awesome, right?”

“Yeah,” said one of the boys.

“Pyrokinesis, very showy and very dangerous. I’m like the mutant equivalent of an Extremis soldier.”

“Awesome,” said Megan, a close friend of Laura’s, if the looks they shared were anything to go by.

John kept the kids distracted from their trauma for the entire flight and fell into step with Jean after they landed to ask her to formally release the medical supplies he gathered with Cyclops, saying “Dr. Reyes won’t accept stolen goods and Scott forgot to update the inventory when he helped me put the bag together.”

The day before New Year’s Eve, John, Hank and Laura went to the M Town youth center to drop off donations. Hank also wanted to talk to some of the adults there while John wanted to introduce Laura to some mutants her own age, figuring that being around a lot of people who weren’t afraid of her would be good for his little sister. Hank was still fielding calls about the mutant kids who had been rescued from the lab but those calls were becoming fewer and farther between. John snuck away with Laura to a jeweler to pick up an engagement ring and took his little sister out to eat before they went back to the school after Hank finished speaking with the mutants who wanted to see him while he was in the state. Laura enjoyed her trip despite all the noise of the city, John gave her earplugs and noise cancelling headphones in the car ride down which reduced the noise enough to be tolerable to the young mutant who grew up in total isolation. “How was your trip?” Logan asked when they returned, his daughter lowering the headphones.

John answered “Alright, all things considered. I think visiting the big apple so close to New Year’s was a bad call on my part and I forgot to tell Laura we could call Kurt to pick her up if it got too bad. Both my mistakes, Laura did fine and the youth center has a sensory deprivation chamber for people prone to sensory overload, we used that when we got there. Other than that, no problems.”

Logan smiled at Laura, “That’s good to hear.” The little girl nodded. “Ears still hurt?” Another nod. “C’mon, I’ll show you a few tricks for that.”

John asked “Can I join you two?”

Logan looked at Laura, who shrugged, then nodded. He taught both of his kids how to meditate and walked Laura through consciously dulling her senses to avoid being overwhelmed. John gave him a key “To the RV, I asked Forge to make two copies.” He gave Laura the other one “If you’re in the city and you need a place to crash or you just want to get away from the school, you’re welcome at my place.”

“Thanks,” said Logan, prompting Laura to say “Thank you.”

“No problem. Dad has my number when he gets around to getting you a phone.” Logan rolled his eyes, although John could tell he had forgotten about stuff like that when he was thinking about what being Laura’s father meant. “You’re lucky,” John told Laura “You have the same powers as one of the teachers. You just need a codename if you want to join the X-Men.”

“Do you have a codename?”

“I’m Pyro.”

“I know you’re a pyro.”

“No, Pyro is my codename. You could use X-23 as a codename, maybe temporarily, like just until you can pick an animal to carry on the family tradition.”

“Family tradition?”

“Dad is Wolverine and his big brother is Sabretooth. You can X-23 but you might want to pick your own name. And while you’re at it, maybe you could help dad figure out a middle name. I know Beast has been on him about getting all the details for your birth certificate figured out before the school year resumes so you can be properly enrolled.”

“Right,” said Laura, smirking.

“I’ll leave you to it.” John found Kitty hanging out with Piotr and said “Think fast,” as he tossed the ring box to her.

She opened the box and smiled at him “Of course, that’s how you’d do this.”

“I thought that part was a forgone conclusion. Your family already counts me among them, Logan’s paternal instinct is already locked on you. Really, Laura’s the only one who might be surprised by this and she’s still trying to wrap her head around having a family.”

“I’m not saying no, you know I’ll say yes.”

“Your dad advised me not to do it on a holiday, he said nothing about the day before a holiday.”

“I love you, John.” She put the ring on and came over to him.

“Love you too. I still need to figure out a middle name before we both get stuck with Allerdyce.”

“John, focus.” Kitty snapped her fingers in front of his face.

“Right, I love you.”

“I love you too.” She pulled him into a kiss.

As the kiss broke, John smiled brightly “At least it’s a very unique story.”

“Yeah, proposing by throwing the ring box at me with almost no warning.”

“Exactly. I got the first installment on that money from my father, or rather, my grandmother. I wouldn’t have enough money by now if not for that.”

Piotr asked “What are you talking about?”

“Mom set up a college fund for me before she died, dad drained it. The money helped get him sent to prison after I left the Brotherhood and decided to be an adult, going through the justice system to get justice instead of burning him alive. I’m getting that money back, even though I’m going to college on scholarships.”

“Right.”

John peeked his head out of the room and saw his father coming down the hall with his sister, “Don’t forget about tomorrow, midnight.” Logan cursed softly then picked Laura up and started speaking softly in her ear, warning her about how New Year is celebrated. Closing the door as quietly as he could, John turned his focus on his fiance. “Sorry, dad forgot about getting Laura a phone, figured tomorrow’s festivities probably slipped his mind too and I can only imagine how much miniature explosions hurt when you have super senses.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Kitty said and they segwayed into the most recent book they had both read, shared reading was basically the foundation of their relationship.

New Year’s was amazing. New York had very strict firework laws so the school never had normal fireworks, mutants just used their powers instead. John joined in the fun on New Year’s Eve, testing how high and how long he could keep his fire going, creating a wide variety of shapes and even taking requests. In the new year, John and Kitty went back to the city. John made sure to give his father his employee ID "I have two, they double as discount cards." He also mentioned M Day, the mutants only promotion Angel was thinking about running.


	9. Birthdays

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura's first birthday party
> 
> And the Lucas family adds a new member

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The dialogue in the first part will be important for my planned finale but might seem out of place at a kid's birthday party so apologies in advance for that. The second part helps with the timeline, as does the end note

**Laura’s Birthday**

While going through the Transigen files recovered during the X-Men raids, Hank discovered the girl was in fact born and found all of the relevant information for a birth certificate. John had little trouble convincing Angel to let him host his sister’s birthday party at the bar. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” asked Logan one more time on the day of.

“She’s okay coming into the city, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then it’s fine. Probably not a great idea but it’ll be fine. I have permission to use the bar on the condition that should any child get a hold of any alcohol, it’s on me. Since I don’t drink and Rick helped me move our supply to the backroom, that shouldn’t be a problem. You can have her party at the mansion next year, you’ll probably have all of her birthdays there from here on out but this is special, it’s her first birthday party ever and it’s a lot easier to control the noise if we control the venue.”

“Alright, fine.”

“You already agreed several times. Anything I need to know before I order pizza? You know Kurt can teleport people here and back, right? Still somebody should drive down just in case.”

“I know. I think I’ve covered everything several times.”

“Then we’re all set. Laura’s spending the night with me, right?”

“Since when?”

“You haven’t been paying attention, old man. Rick’s at the Tower, I get his apartment. He’s catching up with Bruce and getting the scoop on anything the people of M Town should know, his words.”

“Okay.”

“You seriously need to talk to someone, I know you’re only delaying the freak out. It’s something we both do, remember when Jean told me we were related?”

“Yeah.” Logan said “It’s not fatherhood that’s freaking me out, not with Laura.”

“It’s me calling you dad?”

“Yeah.”

“Allerdyce is not my father, I was always planning to change my name. Knowing he literally isn’t my father and you are, that just made me more sure about my plans I guess. Just, kinda, needed to figure out what to call my stepdad. I dunno. Sure I started doing that when Laura came into the picture but I don’t think I was gonna spend the rest of my life calling you Logan.”

“Okay,” Logan wasn’t sure how to take that.

“I don’t know if the explanation helps but it is what it is.”

The party itself went well until a couple of cops and a man in a suit pushed their way in. “Can I help you?” asked John, coming towards the men with guns “The bar is closed for a private event, please put your weapons away.”

The man in a suit, detective unless John missed his guess, waved the uniformed pair down “We’re looking for Angel Salvadore.”

“Do you have a warrant or a name?”

“Detective Russo,” he showed his badge.

John reached out, “May I?” The detective let him hold the badge and John sent a picture to his lawyer with the message standby. “Thank you.” He returned the ID and showed the detective his own “You’re looking for Angel. Do you have a warrant? If you do then I will be happy to help but if you don’t then I’ll have to ask you to leave. You can clearly see that Angel is not here.”

The detective took down the information on his ID “Can you tell me when he’ll be back?”

“No, I cannot and that right there tells me you don’t have enough information on Angel for a warrant. Please, give me my wallet back and leave the premises. This is a private function, invite only.”

“You have a lot of kids here.”

“Yes and you can clearly see we are not serving alcohol, unless root beer counts.”

“No, it doesn’t.” The detective returned John’s wallet and the policemen left the building.

Once they were gone, John said “Hate to be a buzzkill but I think that was a good demonstration of exactly how you handle the police. Be calm, polite, but do not let them push you around. Alright, let’s turn the music back on.”

Laura asked “Who’s Angel?”

“A friend. I’ll tell you more tomorrow. Did dad tell you that you’re staying with me tonight?”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Friend of mine’s letting me use his apartment, he won’t be back until late tomorrow, after you go back to Westchester.”

When the police had come in, John had noticed another man react defensively. Prior to that, he assumed his father would be the only adult man at the party, and that Kitty would be the only adult woman. Both assumptions were proven false as he looked around after someone turned the music back on. Another woman was standing with Logan and smiling at Laura, which made John note the resemblance and assume he was looking at Laura’s bio-mom. Pulling out his phone, he texted a false alarm to Matt. Having his lawyer on standby was almost reflexive after getting arrested so many times. Deciding to approach the mystery man first, he was surprised to find the man had already closed the distance between them “John, right? Pyro?”

“Yeah, you are?”

“James Barnes, the Winter Soldier.”

John shook the offered hand “I heard about you, you should come up with a new codename. Maybe Ghost, you definitely move like a ghost.”

“I’ll think about it. We’re cousins, y’know?”

“Your father is Sabretooth?” James nodded. “Lemme guess, they ran the DNA just out of curiosity and got a hit.”

“Wanted to see if I was a mutant.”

“You did or Jean did?”

“Both.”

“Cool, cuz.” A smile ghosted over the broody man’s face. “Laura rope you into coming?” A slight smile and a nod was the only response he got. “Cool. Can you tell me who Logan’s talking to?”

“Sara Kinney, Laura’s mother. She ran away from Transigen, they killed her sister and kidnapped her daughter to try to force her back.”

“Didn’t work. Not to jump topics but are you a mutant?”

“My healing factor rejected the serum but I’m basically the mutant version of a super soldier.”

“Healing factors are pretty common in our family, I have one too but it’s not automatic, I have to focus just a little bit to use it.”

“Interesting.”

“Yeah, you and I are the only ones in our family who couldn’t survive a bullet to the head. That’s what caused dad’s amnesia, I think.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah. Enjoy the party. I’m the designated responsible adult and you’re the Batman-wannabe, right? Wanna trade?” James laughed at that and John continued “Not sure I can pull off dark and brooding but I’ll do my best if you give nice and responsible a shot.” That made his cousin laugh harder. “Or we could both be mature, balanced adults, that’s probably best.”

“Probably,” James gasped out.

After the party, while John was locking up, Laura asked “How’d you get James to laugh?”

“I basically called him Batman and asked if he wanted to switch roles.”

“Roles?”

“You know exactly what I said. Apparently, I’m the only member of our family without enhanced senses.”

“Right.”

“How are things with your mom?”

“Fine. She’s trying, so is dad.”

“Sometimes I wonder what my life would look like if dad had beaten Allerdyce up instead of running after he broke his hand punching dad. Would I be an X-Man if dad had stood his ground and stayed after? Would I be living in a cabin in Canada? Would I still be engaged to Kitty? There’s something to be said for having both parents and there’s something to be said for people taking turns at raising a kid. What there is to be said, I’m not sure. Next time he’s in town, you should ask Hank, he’s a better philosopher than I am. You get what I’m saying, right? Give both of your parents a chance to be your parents. Your mom may not be a mutant, or maybe she is, I don’t know, but, and this is the important thing, your mom will still fight and die for you. I once told a woman named Jessica Jones that I have always been willing to make the sacrifice play, that if I could go back and turn my power on myself, burn myself to death instead of my mother, that I would do it. And I would but that isn’t my ideal life. In an ideal world, I would have dad there to put out that fire and to help me with my powers. In an ideal world, I would never know Allerdyce, never know abuse. I suppose, in an ideal world, Sara Kinney would have taken her infant daughter and ran to the father, successfully sparing you a lifetime of abuse. The world is not ideal but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad world. Know what I’m saying?”

“Sounds like you’re a pretty good philosopher to me.”

“You have to teach at the school to be an X-Man, I think, not sure what that makes Hank but anyway. If I was an X-Man, I’d teach creative writing. It is very easy for me to imagine what might be different if you change one thing. For want of a nail,” At Laura’s expectant look, he said “I don’t know the full poem by heart but basically you lose one nail in a horseshoe way back in medieval times then you might lose the war.” John looked it up as they walked over to his RV. “For want of a nail, the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe, the horse was lost. For want of a horse, the rider was lost. For want of a rider, the message was lost. For want of a message, the battle was lost. For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost. And all for the want of a horseshoe nail. Small things can have big consequences. A different father figure is kind of a big change but still,” John shrugged. “I’m going to grab mine and Kitty’s helmets, New York has a helmet law so you have to wear one even though neither of us could really die in a car crash.” He gave his sister his fiance’s helmet and they rode over to Rick’s apartment, John parking legally instead of hiding his bike among the trash as he used to do. As Laura went to enter the apartment complex, John hustled ahead of her to unlock the door. They went up to Rick’s apartment and John said “You can have the bed, not sure how well Rick cleaned up.”

“Thanks.” Laura kissed her brother on the cheek then went into the other room while John took the couch, having forgotten to grab his own overnight bag.

**Danielle's Birth Day**

Aaron was sitting in an armchair waiting for Dr. Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth and former neurosurgeon, to invite him into the guest room. The hospital had refused to allow his mother to stay after they realized she was a super but luckily the Avengers showed up to take her to Dr. Strange, who unfortunately had to finish up a mystic battle before he could help. Now Aaron was waiting in a library with his godparents, who he supposed would also be his sister's godparents, for news. Wong had the misfortune of trying to calm him down by walking him through breathing exercises but Aaron wouldn't hear it and his control slipped. Aunt Trish helped Danny coax him into undoing the command before advising Wong to leave them be. Now he was a nervous mess, what if he slipped up and used his powers on his sister? He must have voiced that worry because Danny answered the question from where he was sitting on the floor "Jess will know and she'll help you undo it. Remember, your power doesn't work on her, anymore."

"It used to, what if it spikes again?"

"Then she'll know when she comes out of the trance. C'mon, I think Wong was building up to meditation with those breathing exercises." Danny had already taught him to meditate, Aaron moved to sit next to his godfather and joined him in meditation, Aunt Trish stealing his seat.

When Stephen came to get them, he smiled at the pair. Trish noticed the doctor and snapped "Guys, doc's here."

"Is everything okay?" asked Aaron, jumping to his feet.

"Better than okay but I'll let your mom explain," he then gave them directions to the makeshift birthing suite and the trio ran there.

Trish asked "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine," said Jess as Aaron moved to stare at his little sister.

Luke took the opportunity to share the baby's name "Meet Danielle Lucas."

"What's her middle name?" asked Aaron a moment before his stepfather's words sunk in "Did you name her after Danny?"

"Yes and we were thinking of using both godparents' names." Trish was touched by that gesture. "Strange went to call an old colleague about a birth certificate."

Aaron asked "What did the doctor mean when he said everything was better than okay? Was the birth a trigger?"

"Yes. Turns out your name wasn't supposed to be Aaron but Kilgrave got tired of dealing with an infant and failed to include your name when he got rid of you. You were gonna be a Ben."

"I like Aaron more."

"I wasn't planning on changing your name on top of filling out Danielle's birth certificate."

"Awesome." Aaron forgot all about his anxiety when he looked at his little sister. "Think she'll have super strength? Since both of you do or do you think she'll be more like a normal mutant, get a random power?"

Luke chuckled "I don't know. You didn't get a random power and there's always a chance the child of two mutants can be human, who's to say that doesn't apply to all supers?"

"I dunno. I just always thought I got some of my powers from mom and some from Kilgrave. The overlap makes me really hard to kill but you don't have that, dad. The only power that overlaps is super-strength. I'm guessing you'd know if she had unbreakable skin."

"Maybe it'll come in time and maybe it won't, only time will tell."

"Guys, stop it," said Jess. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

"Five bucks says you get pressured to gene test her for super powers."

"It's not happening."

"Doesn't mean there won't be people trying to make you do it."

"I know. I just hope they don't leverage her birth certificate."

"You have a telepathic friend and I can make people do whatever I say, no blackmail is gonna work. I'm just betting someone's gonna try. Record all conversations with anyone from the government, to legalize my power use if it comes to that."

"Good idea."

Aaron found a chair and moved it over before asking to hold his little sister, which prompted Luke to pass his daughter over to his son. Trish, of course, took a picture of her niece and nephew. James Lucas had passed shortly before Jessica found out she was pregnant, otherwise the pastor wouldn't miss the birth of his first legitimate grandchild. After a while, Trish asked to take a turn and Aaron carefully handed his sister over, taking a picture for his aunt. "If Danielle turned out to be another Daniel, would you have used James as the middle name?"

"Maybe," admitted Jess.

Luke asked "What did you say to my dad that Christmas?"

"I just pointed out my last name was Lucas not Cage. I feel like he had a problem with me being your stepson, like I wasn't really his grandson but he'd settle for me. I know it's horrible but I'm kinda glad we only had the one Christmas. I think I get why mom doesn't spend any holidays with Aunt Trish's mom, same kinda fakeness but to a lesser extent and with a touch of disapproval."

"Yeah, I got that too."

"I mean, I'm glad we went to the funeral. I know you two debated not doing that but accidentally killing my dad is still the worst thing I've ever done and I've killed people on purpose."

"Under duress so it doesn't count," said Trish.

"Matt has explained to me in detail how it doesn't count. I also learned Matt's thing with his senses makes him immune to my powers."

"What?" asked the four adults.

"The first thing he learned to do was block stuff out so he wouldn't go insane, he's selective hearing down to a science and if you don't hear the command,"

"You can't obey it," finished Trish. "That makes sense."

"What doesn't make sense is him letting you in on his secret."

"That was an accident and not on his part."

"Right." After a moment of silence, Aaron started chuckling.

Jess asked "What's so funny?"

"Dani, Danny, you know we're gonna end up doing that."

"What?"

Aaron pointed at his sister, "Dani," then his godfather "Danny."

"Oh." They all chuckled at that, knowing he was probably right about them shortening Danielle to Dani. Stephen came back in with the promised paperwork, which he handed to Luke to fill out as many fathers do but with the doctor on hand to help instead of a nurse. Dr. Strange took the paperwork back and left the room to file it.

"Danielle Patricia Lucas, that's a long name," said Aaron with a chuckle before yawning and sitting down in a corner to nap. Sometimes he did stuff like that without thinking, making do instead of asking for something.

Luke nudged his son, "Why don't you go with Danny, the adult not the baby, and head home?"

Danny said "Or you can come over to my place." Aaron nodded sleepily and followed his godfather out.

Jess said "He's doing better," a reassurance she used often when her son first moved in with her but had not used in some time.

Luke said "This wasn't a regression, he probably just didn't want to leave."

"Yeah, right." Jess gave into her exhaustion after that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Danielle was born about two years after Jessica and Luke got married, he's had time to adjust. Her birth serves as a great time-skip. We're nearing the climax of this story.


End file.
